tomorrow is my first craft show

[sachbvn]

Nice job Clay - The pictures are great....you've really accumulated a really nice inventory of work. BTW I love your bottle stopper holder - nicely done.

Sounds like the results were good - I'm glad things worked out for you.


Zac

[maverick31]

thanks guys. The guy in canton wants to add stoppers to his wine mix business. I think I will sign back up for this same show in november. I am also going to look into the jr league shows too. thanks zac, I got great compliments on my stopper stand. Simple red oak, glued on some feet and branded my name in it

[tomd]

Congradulations on your success and thanks for the interesting reading on your trip. You must produce a fine product to do so well. I always wanted to do a show but whenever it comes up I back down, just guttless I guess. Nice to hear from someone with the courage to do it.

[Joe Lyddon]

Very good, Clay!

Looks like you're off to a very good start... and will always get better! ;D

[sdb777]

Be careful at work today. I got tired on the job, and now look at me.....hobbling around the house going crazy, waiting for Worker's Comp folks to get there thumb out of their a______!

Out of both days, which day paid off the best for you?

Did more men, or more women come to your table? Which actually bought something(men or women)?

If you had to do your first day over again, what would you have done differently?






Glad you had a profitable outing, always easier to justisify doing it again if you did well. I would think the show you spoke of around November would have more 'gift' buyers out. Your photo's of your set-up looked really good, as well as your inventory(you've been busy)....and I enjoyed hearing about your adventure!


Scott (didn't make anything last week) B

[maverick31]

Mar 8, 2010 5:15:11 GMT -6 sdb777 said:

Be careful at work today. I got tired on the job, and now look at me.....hobbling around the house going crazy, waiting for Worker's Comp folks to get there thumb out of their a______!

Out of both days, which day paid off the best for you?

I did a lot better on sunday, which all the other vendors were suprised. I think my sales technique was better though.

Did more men, or more women come to your table? Which actually bought something(men or women)?


women but a guy bought my expensive pens

If you had to do your first day over again, what would you have done differently?

As far as pens go, by a mile getting them to write with the pen is the sale. my percentage of converted sales is much higher when they try writting with it vs not trying it. on sunday I presented my bottle stoppers as great gift ideas and I also told them these are handcrafted and polished by me in my workshop and these stoppers also work great if you have a few friends over and dont want to fight with trying to open a bottle of wine and risk popping someone in the eye. I would tell them to open the bottle before their friends get there, then install a stopper and the stopper will instantly change that cheap $10 bottle of wine into $100 bottle of wine. They all seemed to laugh at that one and it worked. they started buying stoppers from me.



Glad you had a profitable outing, always easier to justisify doing it again if you did well. I would think the show you spoke of around November would have more 'gift' buyers out. Your photo's of your set-up looked really good, as well as your inventory(you've been busy)....and I enjoyed hearing about your adventure!

thanks scott, I think next time I will fancy it up with decorations like doug, I just ran out of time before the show. I do have a list of improvements for next time.
Scott (didn't make anything last week) B

I think my best piece of advice for people that have never done this is you have to sell yourself and your product. It seems obvious but I learned that you really do have to sell sell sell to get people to spend money in this economy. I think every one that bought something, even my 5 dollar rubberband guns had a good time in my booth. I turned on my comedy side and it seemed to help loosen people up and the more the laughed the more they spent.

[maverick31]

Mar 7, 2010 22:28:28 GMT -6 tomd said:

Congradulations on your success and thanks for the interesting reading on your trip. You must produce a fine product to do so well. I always wanted to do a show but whenever it comes up I back down, just guttless I guess. Nice to hear from someone with the courage to do it.

Uhhh, compared to your turnings I am a rookie. Once you do feel like trying it make sure you pick the right place cause some of these small shows bring out people who don't want to pay up for high priced items. as fancy as your work is you will want to be at a very high end place. These girls across the way from me kept telling me about the jr leagues and how drs., lawyers, professionals come out and pay 100s of dollars just to get in the door to buy something. I think for our high end stuff that may be they way to go. I wonder if any of our other members have done a jr league.

[Doug B]

Nice set up Mav. I really like your pen holders - what are they made out of?

I like the brand on the bottle stopper holder too - that is a great idea and I'm going to do the same thing on the one I made.

I see you used candy to bribe people to stop and look - how well did that work out?

I've not heard of the Jr league, but it sure sounds interesting.

[maverick31]

believe it or not pen holders are painted mdf with glued on blk felt. I forgot to make em and that was the last thing i did. I am going to make a matching red oak pen stand for the next one that is like the plastic ones you can buy. That way they match. I am also going to add animal calls and some other turning stuff to my arsenal. Ran into a lot of hunters this weekend that liked bullet pens and camo slimlines but would rather have a deer call instead. I figured too if it was a little slow I will start sounding off on the calls and call em over that way. candy worked great for some but some of the older folks were shy and said no when I asked if they would like a piece of candy. It did help with vendor relations though, so I will do candy at every show I do.

[Doug B]

That's MDF...I'll be darned. Sure looked like something fancy there. I kinda like the clean look of the white with black felt on top. That just might show the pens better than my Oak ones. I probably will stick with the ones I've got, but it is something to think about.

I gotta get some candy too for the next show - I know the other vendors will not be shy about taking advantage of a newbie with free goodies

[maverick31]

no they were not shy about eating up my candy. I figured with all the great advise it was worth it

[maverick31]

hey doug, I did a little research on these jr league shows. In my area they do one in nov for christmas. I called them today. You have to be signed up for it by this weekend. They want 675 for the cheapest booth and the most expensive is 1700. this is way out of my league but may be something to think about for 2011. It is jurried and you have to list your last 3 shows sales/profits, mail in pics, etc.... To me I am not sure if it would be worth the risk/reward.

[Doug B]

Wow, thanks for that info Mav. That saves me from having to check into it any further because that's way out of my league too. Those must be for real artists ;D